MAESTRO'S NOTES

Philip Sheppard

Recent Posts

Catherine "Cady" Coleman has logged more than 4,330 hours in space aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia and the International Space Station (ISS). Of her three NASA missions, the longest was from December 16, 2010 to May 24, 2011, traveling 63,345,600 miles in 2,544 orbits during 159 days in space.

I always seem to write my best music when I’m on an airplane (well, that’s my excuse for travelling a lot!). Sometimes, the places you’re travelling through can give you a great idea for a piece. But sometimes the way you’re travelling can give you an even better idea. Did you know that there are lots of amazing pieces for orchestra that are about trains, buses, cars and boats?

Evelyn Glennie - Percussion Superstar

How old were you when you started playing music?

Because both my parents had some sort of musical background, music was always a big part of my life.

My mother played the piano at home and, although she was not an organist, she played hymns on the organ at the local village church.

I would sit on the hard wooden pew and absorb the church paintings as she played. I was lucky to have been brought up in a time when our family get-togethers was spent singing songs, dancing, telling stories or even reciting poetry in Doric. We actually enjoyed power cuts in the winter time because they added further excitement to our creative processes when the lights went out and we just had candles to see by.

I continue to enjoy engaging with audiences for the same sense of creative excitement.

Throughout my education I consider myself very fortunate in that my schools offered free music education to every child. I began to play piano at the age of 8, followed by clarinet at 10.

After seeing the school orchestra playing I focussed my time on percussion from the age of 12. I was so impressed that I immediately knew I wanted to be part of it.

Interviews in print: Members of the orchestra

Dom Kelly - oboist [questions by Marilena aged 10]

How old were you when you started playing? Why did you choose to play the oboe?

I was eight. My mum is a flute teacher and she was rehearsing in her wind quintet in the lounge (flute, oboe, clarinet, french horn, bassoon) and said "Hey, do you fancy trying Marion's oboe?" I never looked back ... unless I wanted to talk to the bassoons that is ;-)

If I'm trying to come up with a sound or a tune for a new piece, I'll go outside for a walk, a bike ride or a if I'm really lucky, a hike in the mountains. (The photo above was taken on one of my recent hikes).